The 2024 season is officially over as Instagram reels across our feeds will not let us forget. What a year it was for City Paper Company.  We had some tremendous highs as well as some tragic lows that challenged us in ways we never thought possible. 

We held our annual sales meeting in Birmingham with a second one this past summer. It created double the opportunity for our team to gather, collaborate, and bond. 

We added to our team three new rock stars.  

⭐️ Trey Schaeffer, an industry veteran, who has brought his promo skills to our team

⭐️ Brooklyn Culwell, our e-Commerce Coordinator, who places orders (almost) faster than Amazon

⭐️ Sydney Edison, a new-to-promo but quick-to-learn rep who brings sunshine, joy and creativity to CP

We had a number of five and 10 year anniversaries this year, something we are extra proud to achieve. 🥂

We participated in the Birmingham Business Journal’s Women’s Summit, sponsored amazing organizations like Girls Inc and KultureCity in their events (among others), and had a fantastic intern, Sareena Askenazi, join us for the summer. 🎗️

We brought in new clients, new opportunities and opened new doors. We grew relationships with suppliers. 🌱

And yes, we stumbled from time to time. We are human. But with each moment we misstep, we can unequivocally say we learn and we grow. We find ways to ensure the same mistakes will not happen again.  We get better and stronger and smarter and more methodical. ✨

We lost one of our own family members here this year. Ralph Carwell, one of our warehouse associates, passed away October 26, 2024. We mourn his loss and will tremendously miss the joy he brought to work every single day.  We are a family and ripples in our family are like that of yours at home. We push through and persevere and mourn and remember and just keep going. ❤️

2025 is going to bring so many exciting things, including a trip to Vegas for the PPAI Expo, a new warehouse, some other exciting 👀 things in store that can’t yet be shared and of course, all of the creative branding our little hearts can stir up. 🔥

So as we close on this chapter, this amazing and inspiring year, thank you. Thank you to our customers, who believe in us, challenge us and trust us. Thank you to our vendors. Without you, we cannot deliver. We cannot succeed. We are so grateful to you for fighting alongside us. And lastly, thank you to our team and to your families. I say it often, but you show up. You show up on the good days and even more so on the hard ones. You bring a positive, “find a way to say yes” attitude and you help make packaging and promo creativity come to life.  You are the glue. And we thank you. 

Cheers to you all!  Wishing you and your families a wonderful, healthy, beautiful, creative, and successful 2025. 

Stephanie Friedman, CEO